The path not taken.

Raytheon is looking at ways to respond to an urgent U.S. Navy call for a new version of the AIM-9X Sidewinder with greatly increased range, Vice President for Air Warfare Systems Harry Schulte said at the Paris air show June 19.

Although the Block II version of the missile is still in operational testing, the Navy wants to get the long-range Block III into developmental testing by 2018, according to budget documents.

The Block III “overlaps the range capability” of the AIM-120 Amraam, Schulte says.

Along with Navy efforts to add an infrared search and track system to the Super Hornet, it’s a response to “a particular threat that presents difficulties in RF” (radio-frequency). Asked whether the threat is Chinese, Schulte says “it could be.”

Boeing has said that the Hornet IRST program is a response to “RF-denied environments,” a likely reference to high-powered jamming. The new missile will use the Block II seeker, datalink and optical fuze but will almost certainly require a new motor.

“We could look at a fatter motor or a two-pulse motor,” Schulte says, possibly growing the weapon’s diameter from five to six inches.

Developing the motor raises challenges for Raytheon. Motor production at its previous Amraam motor supplier, ATK, has been shut down because inside and outside investigations have not found the reason why its motors started to fail cold-soak fires in 2010-11.

Amraam motors are now being built by Nammo in Norway, using a propellant based on the motor of the German-led IRIS-T infrared air-to-air missile, while ATK seeks a new propellant formulation. Raytheon is partnered with Rafael on the Stunner missile, which is under test and uses a Rafael-developed three-pulse motor. However, no formal talks with Rafael have taken place concerning the AIM-9X Block III.

I really did change my personal text

Raytheon is looking at ways to respond to an urgent U.S. Navy call for a new version of the AIM-9X Sidewinder with greatly increased range, Vice President for Air Warfare Systems Harry Schulte said at the Paris air show June 19.

Although the Block II version of the missile is still in operational testing, the Navy wants to get the long-range Block III into developmental testing by 2018, according to budget documents.

The Block III “overlaps the range capability” of the AIM-120 Amraam, Schulte says.

Along with Navy efforts to add an infrared search and track system to the Super Hornet, it’s a response to “a particular threat that presents difficulties in RF” (radio-frequency). Asked whether the threat is Chinese, Schulte says “it could be.”

Boeing has said that the Hornet IRST program is a response to “RF-denied environments,” a likely reference to high-powered jamming. The new missile will use the Block II seeker, datalink and optical fuze but will almost certainly require a new motor.

“We could look at a fatter motor or a two-pulse motor,” Schulte says, possibly growing the weapon’s diameter from five to six inches.

Developing the motor raises challenges for Raytheon. Motor production at its previous Amraam motor supplier, ATK, has been shut down because inside and outside investigations have not found the reason why its motors started to fail cold-soak fires in 2010-11.

Amraam motors are now being built by Nammo in Norway, using a propellant based on the motor of the German-led IRIS-T infrared air-to-air missile, while ATK seeks a new propellant formulation. Raytheon is partnered with Rafael on the Stunner missile, which is under test and uses a Rafael-developed three-pulse motor. However, no formal talks with Rafael have taken place concerning the AIM-9X Block III.

Donald McKelvy

"Here’s How the Navy Plans to Shoot Down High-Tech Chinese Jets--
By homing in on their heat with a new missile"
by David Axe

Source:
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/5b1dfc2511bd

The Chinese air force has at least two new stealth warplanes. And that’s a big problem for the U.S. Navy, which is still working on a radar-dodging fighter of its own.

The Navy’s quandary: how to shoot down Chinese planes that can’t be detected by radar — before the Chinese jets get close enough to launch missiles of their own.

One possible solution: to use the enemy jets’ own heat against them.

At the Paris air show on June 19, an official from U.S. munitions-maker Raytheon told reporter Bill Sweetman that the Navy had made an “urgent” request for a new, long-range, heat-seeking missile.

Raytheon vice president Harry Schulte told Sweetman that the new missile was specifically meant for dealing with “a particular threat that presents difficulties in RF,” or radio frequency (a.k.a., radar).

Sweetman asked if the threat was Chinese. “It could be,” Schulte replied.

His coyness belies the pace and potential sophistication of Chinese warplane development. The J-20, Beijing’s first radar-evading warplane type, debuted in December 2010 in blurry photos posted on the Chinese Internet. The smaller J-31 first appeared in September last year and other stealth models are rumored.

Both confirmed planes are still in testing, and little is known outside the Chinese government about their capabilities. But an analysis by Air Power Australia, an independent think tank, concluded that “no fundamental obstacles exist in the shaping design of the J-20 prototype which would preclude its development into a genuine very low observable design.”

The J-20 could enter service as early as 2018 — up to a year before the Navy’s own stealthy F-35C Joint Strike Fighter joins the fleet. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Navy wants its new infrared-guided missile to enter final testing in, you guessed it, 2018.

Paired with a new heat sensor being developed for the Navy’s current frontline jet, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the new missile could exploit a possible major vulnerability of the Chinese stealth fighters: the heat generated by their radars, engines and other components.

Whereas the latest American warplanes including the F-35 and older F-22 use special fuel systems that absorb some excess heat, the Chinese planes are thought to be thermally unshielded. In principle, an infrared-homing missile could lock onto a Chinese stealth jet even if a radar-guided missile can’t.

But most current U.S.-made IR missiles have a fairly short range: just 22 miles for Raytheon’s latest AIM-9X Sidewinder. A J-20 fitted with PL-12 radar-guided missiles could fire on U.S. jets at nearly twice that distance.

Schulte said an urgent new IR missile for the Navy could overlap with the 40-mile range performance of America’s AIM-120 radar missile, at least matching the Chinese PL-12.

To develop this new missile fast, Schulte said Raytheon could increase the diameter of the existing Sidewinder missile body from the current five inches to six and fit a new, more powerful motor plus other improvements.

The resulting munition could at least give Navy jets a fighting chance against the latest Chinese planes.

CLEARANCE: Top Secret

Article describes Block II upgrade and enhanced discrimination against flares. I wonder if they are simply using a 2 color seeker or if enough smarts have been incorporated to do extended image tracking.

CLEARANCE: Above Top Secret

The newest AIM-9X Block II air-to-air missile was cleared for full-rate production and delivery to the Air Force, Navy, and allied customers, manufacturer Raytheon announced on Sept. 3. "We look forward to getting them into the hands of our warfighters as quickly as possible," program manager Navy Capt. Jim Stoneman said in the release. The Block II boasts an "updated electronics package [that] gives the missile features significant enhancements, like the ability to lock on after launch using a new datalink that supports beyond-visual-range engagements," company missile vice president Mike Jarrett added. The Navy's full-rate production decision follows the completion of the missile's live fire testing requirements back in June. The AIM-9X Block I missile entered service in 2003, and development of the Block II began in 2011, according to Raytheon.

CLEARANCE: Secret

Raytheon is looking at ways to respond to an urgent U.S. Navy call for a new version of the AIM-9X Sidewinder with greatly increased range, Vice President for Air Warfare Systems Harry Schulte said at the Paris air show June 19.

Although the Block II version of the missile is still in operational testing, the Navy wants to get the long-range Block III into developmental testing by 2018, according to budget documents.

The Block III “overlaps the range capability” of the AIM-120 Amraam, Schulte says.

Along with Navy efforts to add an infrared search and track system to the Super Hornet, it’s a response to “a particular threat that presents difficulties in RF” (radio-frequency). Asked whether the threat is Chinese, Schulte says “it could be.”

Boeing has said that the Hornet IRST program is a response to “RF-denied environments,” a likely reference to high-powered jamming. The new missile will use the Block II seeker, datalink and optical fuze but will almost certainly require a new motor.

“We could look at a fatter motor or a two-pulse motor,” Schulte says, possibly growing the weapon’s diameter from five to six inches.

Developing the motor raises challenges for Raytheon. Motor production at its previous Amraam motor supplier, ATK, has been shut down because inside and outside investigations have not found the reason why its motors started to fail cold-soak fires in 2010-11.

Amraam motors are now being built by Nammo in Norway, using a propellant based on the motor of the German-led IRIS-T infrared air-to-air missile, while ATK seeks a new propellant formulation. Raytheon is partnered with Rafael on the Stunner missile, which is under test and uses a Rafael-developed three-pulse motor. However, no formal talks with Rafael have taken place concerning the AIM-9X Block III.